February 5, 2008

( imported, originally posted on Jan 16th, 08 )

One of my friends offered me a brand new Incubus’ CD for only 40.000 rupiahs (equivalent to € 3.89). Of course I took it with no hesitation at all. Having a brand new album from a band I like the most for a low price couldn’t please me more. In addition, beside the high quality sounds, the album also has a very artistic cover design. “Man, hearing the albums while reading the lyrics feels like being kissed by Mariana Renata. Yummy, lol!”

In my opinion, this is the Incubus’ album that tells about romance more than their previous albums. Even though there were some songs in their previous albums that also tells about romance, but the language used were not as baldly as the language used in this new album. The evolution can be seen, started from the Fungus Amongus and Enjoy Incubus albums which -in my opinion- contain no love song at all, and continued to the next albums where the romance materials were added gradually. Some people said that it is because the maturity that Brandon gained as the lyrics writer as the time goes by. Well, even though I like their old lyrics concept more, but I think it’s just fine as long as they keep making good music. I mean “hey, a lot of people know this band for the first time from songs like Summer Romance, I Miss You, and Wish You Were Here, right?”

Based on my observation, at least 7 out of 13 songs in the Light Grenades album noticeably contain story about love. This time I’m going to interpret one of those songs, which titled Diamonds and Coal. Since I’m not intending to make this writing too long, the complete lyrics can be found here.

“If it’s good to complicate then both of us are doing fine.”
“Yeah, if it’s right to pick a fight, we’re fingers in a sugar bowl.”
“If it’s good to instigate then we’re a fast horse, bet on us.”
“I’m not calling you an animal I think we just fight too much.”

From the sentences, we could see a story about a couple that doesn’t get along with each other. Fighting and arguing become the parts of their relationship. The writer used simple statements that can be understood easily. At these parts, he showed a cynicism how a little conversation between the couple can easily turn into a fight. But then, at these parts:

“Love isn’t perfect, even diamonds start out as coal.”
“Come on, in spite of this we’re doing just fine, even diamonds start as coal.”
“Give us time to shine, even diamonds start as coal.”

The writer emphasizes that nothing is perfect, including love. He presents the optimism that over time the relationship would get better.

“Give it time girl, the fire feels divine.”
“The sweetest things they burn before they shine.”

I think these are the best parts of the song which explain the metaphoric phrase “even diamonds start as coal”. They tell us that through those fights and as the time goes by, as long as they don’t give up, the relationship will finally become as strong and as beautiful as a diamond. It’s sweet, isn’t it?